Day 3: Surfer’s Paradise

I woke up at 8:30 in the morning. Much later than I planned. It was drizzling outside and the cold morning breeze by the bedside was so comforting. I didn’t want to get up.

But I had to.

I had instant noodle for breakfast and an amazing bottle of banana + mango juice I bought from the nearby Korean convenience store. Then I headed to Surfer Paradise to have my last look of Gold Coast. I went for the Aquaduck tour and saw some highlights on the road and around the canals of Gold Coast. There were millionaires’ houses there. I wish…

I wanted to go up Skypoint, but the weather wasn’t that clear. So, what’s the point? But it would have been perfect to do it while around surfers paradise on a perfect weather. Especially to see that long golden stretch of beaches in Gold Coast. I ended up walking around city area, shop for souvenirs and ate lunch at GYG Mexican food. It was my first mexican food and I really wanted to have more but it was too expensive. Still, delicious!

It was my last day in Gold Coast. I was visiting my cousin up in Brisbane. After walking around surfers paradise (not really fun without friends and the beach wasn’t good either since it was drizzling), I went back to the house and got packing. The bus to Helensvale station had its Gocard touch machine faulty. Lucky, I thought. The public transport here is no kidding, very expensive! But I was wrong. Apparently you travel for free after the 9th trip from the start of the week. So the trip on the Bus would have been my 9th trip. I ended up paying for the train to Brisbane. The train from Helensvale station came at 2:54pm and reached brisbane central at 4:00 pm. It was an express train and I didn’t know about that until it skipped some of the station. I expected the trip to Brisbane to take almost 3 hours. But I reached way earlier.

After eating an impromptu Mac meal in the station, just to make up for the time gap, I continued on to meet my cousin, who’s working at the University of Queensland and was very kind to allow me to stay with her for the weekend! She took me around the university which has this amazing building made from limestones. Also I bought groceries like a local. That was pretty cool. We cooked (I just followed her instructions) and watched Friends while eating dinner. The bed she provided for me was so comfortable, I wouldn’t ask for anything better. The bed I had for two nights in Gold Coast was so thin. I finally feel more comfortable in Australia.

Oh yeah, people in Brisbane have really nice habit of saying ‘Hi’ to the bus captain and ‘Thank you’ when they alight. Oh, how I wish we do that in Singapore!